While writing ConTeXt code (similar to LaTeX), I will reference the StackExchange network: % @see http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/128858/2148 Brett Victor

While writing ConTeXt code (similar to LaTeX), I will reference the StackExchange network: % @see http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/128858/2148 Brett Victor asks, "How do you get communication started between uncorrelated sentient beings?" to introduce the concept of automatic service discovery using a common language.[1] Alan Kay had a similar idea: that objects should refer to other objects not by their memory space inside a single machine but by their URI.[2] When programmers copy/paste StackOverflow snippets, in a way they are actually closer to realizing Alan Kay's vision of meta-programming than those who subscribe to the "tyranny of a single implementation" -- or "writing" code as some would mock, expressing a narrow view of what they think "programming" a computer must entail. The StackExchange network provides a feature-rich interface to document source code snippets that perform a specific task. What's missing is a formal, structured description of these snippets and a mechanism to provide semantic interoperability that leads to a universal prototyping language for deep messaging interchange.[3] How else are we going to go from Minecraft[4] to Holodeck[5]? [1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4#t=790 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4#t=790 [2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKg1hTOQXoY#t=2940 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKg1hTOQXoY#t=2940 [3]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKg1hTOQXoY#t=3125 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKg1hTOQXoY#t=3125 [4]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1h1U5jHh6U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1h1U5jHh6U [5]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OCKDEdtWys#t=39 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OCKDEdtWys#t=39